Dover School Board to seek mediator in contract talks

DOVER — The School Board is seeking a mediator to find resolution between the board and the Teachers Union because the two failed to reach agreement on a new teachers contract.

The district will be picking up the tab for a mediator, who will be tasked with finding an amenable solution to a contract agreement for the 2014-15 school year, something the two groups have failed to do thus far. That lack of agreement prompted the union to send a letter to the newspaper Monday expressing its disappointment.

The existing contract contains a salary schedule unchanged since the 2008-2009 school year, the letter to Foster’s Daily Democrat said. The letter also states the School Board rejected the union’s final attempt at a resolution; however, Vice Chair Betsey Andrews Parker told Foster’s Monday night that’s not true.

Andrews-Parker explained the board accepted the union’s request for raises and did so while keeping within the budget. The board’s offer, she said, made it so that current employees would have their same health insurance plan and pay no more than what they currently pay. Co-pays under those plans would also remain the same.

One concession, however, would be for new hires within the district. The board asked that they pay health insurance rates more in line with other city departments, which is 3-5 percent more than what current teachers pay.

In the letter sent to the newspaper, signed by six union representatives, it states the union’s salary proposal as requiring an additional $60,000 on the $48 million budget, an offer that, according to the letter, was “too expensive.”

In response, Andrews-Parker said School Board members were also disappointed at being unable to reach a resolution since the board accepted a proposal for raises across the board and countered with what they thought to be reasonable.

“We thought it was a fair deal that would help us to stay within the budget ... and move our district forward.”

She said the claim the proposal from the union was too expensive is untrue.

“We wanted a concession on the health insurance and said we would find the other $60,000,” she said, explaining the board needed to have that money from the health insurance.

“I’m confident that we’ll be able to come to a resolution and find something agreeable with the district and the union,” she said.

Revenues within the district are expected to increase this year with higher rates for tuition students, athletic transportation and adult education, the letter said.

The School Board will meet in executive session today. Labor negotiations dealing with Dover Educational Office Personnel are on the agenda. These negotiations will not be dealing with teachers in the district.